User guidance system, mobile communication terminal, and user guidance method

ABSTRACT

A user guidance system includes a communication history receiver receiving communication history information of a mobile communication terminal; a traffic information generator receiving resource state information from a base station and generating communication traffic information at the base station; a dissatisfaction calculator calculating a dissatisfaction with a recommended action to a user of the mobile communication terminal, based on the communication history information and the communication traffic information; a recommended action extractor extracting a recommended action for the user to be notified of, based on dissatisfactions with a plurality of recommended actions; and an information transmitter transmitting the recommended action to the mobile communication terminal.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a user guidance system, mobilecommunication terminal, and user guidance method for guiding user'saction during utilization of communication.

BACKGROUND ART

In a mobile communication system locations of user terminals varyconstantly and communication requests could be locally concentrateddepending upon conditions. Under such circumstances, communicationresources such as wireless resources could become insufficient in themobile communication system, so as to increase cases of rejecting acommunication request. A known means for handling such cases is acommunication terminal configured to collect the dynamically varyingstate of the communication system from a base station and to set aparameter to be designated during communication, to a suitable value(cf. Patent Document 1 below).

Patent Document 1: Published Japanese translation of PCT applicationPublication No. P2002-521990A

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION Problem to be Solved by the Invention

However, the above communication terminal fails to provide each userwith useful information because a variety of state information of thecommunication system, such as the performance of the communicationnetwork and a charge table, is received through broadcasting. Sincethere are a diversity of actions that can be taken by a user, it isdifficult to effectively utilize the communication resources and toguide the user to an action suitable for the user by simply changing thecommunication parameter on the basis of such state information.

The present invention has been accomplished in view of the above problemand an object of the present invention is to provide a user guidancesystem, mobile communication terminal, and user guidance method capableof guiding a user to an appropriate action during utilization ofcommunication.

Means for Solving the Problem

In order to solve the above problem, a user guidance system according tothe present invention is a user guidance system comprising:communication history receiving means for receiving communicationhistory information which is history information of communication of amobile communication terminal in a communication network; trafficinformation generating means for receiving from a base station in thecommunication network, resource state information indicating a usagestate of resources of the base station and for generating communicationtraffic information about a communication traffic at the base station,using the resource state information and the communication historyinformation; dissatisfaction calculating means for calculating adissatisfaction with a recommended action being an action recommended toa user of the mobile communication terminal, based on the communicationhistory information received by the communication history receivingmeans and the communication traffic information generated by the trafficinformation generating means; recommended action extracting means for,based on dissatisfactions with a plurality of recommended actionscalculated by the dissatisfaction calculating means, extracting arecommended action for the user to be notified of, out of the pluralityof recommended actions; and information transmitting means fortransmitting the recommended action extracted by the recommended actionextracting means, to the mobile communication terminal.

In another aspect, a mobile communication terminal according to thepresent invention is a mobile communication terminal comprising:communication history receiving means for receiving communicationhistory information being history information of communication in acommunication network; traffic information generating means forreceiving from a base station in the communication network, resourcestate information indicating a usage state of resources of the basestation and for generating communication traffic information about acommunication traffic at the base station, using the resource stateinformation and the communication history information; dissatisfactioncalculating means for calculating a dissatisfaction with a recommendedaction being an action recommended to a user, based on the communicationhistory information received by the communication history receivingmeans and the communication traffic information generated by the trafficinformation generating means; recommended action extracting means for,based on dissatisfactions with a plurality of recommended actionscalculated by the dissatisfaction calculating means, extracting arecommended action for the user to be notified of, out of the pluralityof recommended actions; and outputting means for outputting therecommended action extracted by the recommended action extracting means.

In still another aspect, a user guidance method according to the presentinvention is a user guidance method comprising: a communication historyreceiving step wherein communication history receiving means receivescommunication history information being history information ofcommunication in a communication network; a traffic informationgenerating step wherein traffic information generating means receivesfrom a base station in the communication network, resource stateinformation indicating a usage state of resources of the base stationand generates communication traffic information about a communicationtraffic at the base station, using the resource state information andthe communication history information; a dissatisfaction calculatingstep wherein dissatisfaction calculating means calculates adissatisfaction with a recommended action being an action recommended toa user, based on the communication history information received by thecommunication history receiving means and the communication trafficinformation generated by the traffic information generating means; and arecommended action extracting step wherein, based on dissatisfactionswith a plurality of recommended actions calculated by thedissatisfaction calculating means, recommended action extracting meansextracts a recommended action for the user to be notified of, out of theplurality of recommended actions.

The user guidance system, mobile communication terminal, and userguidance method are arranged to receive the communication history of themobile communication terminal and the usage state of resources of thebase station, to generate the information about the communicationtraffic at the base station from these information pieces, and tocalculate the dissatisfactions with the plurality of actions to berecommended to the user, based on the communication history, the usagestate of the resources of the base station, and the communicationtraffic at the base station. Since a recommended action suitable for theuser is extracted from the plurality of actions, based on thedissatisfactions thus calculated, and the user is notified of theextracted action, the recommended action suitable for the user can beselected well out of a plurality of candidates, in consideration of thetraffic state at each base station and the user's communication state.

EFFECT OF THE INVENTION

The present invention successfully provides the user guidance system forguiding a user to an appropriate action during utilization ofcommunication.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram showing a preferredembodiment of the user guidance system according to the presentinvention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of a data configuration of acommunication history storage 108 in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a data configuration of adissatisfaction function storage in FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a data configuration of arecommended action storage in FIG. 1.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an operation of the user guidance system inFIG. 1.

FIG. 6 is a schematic configuration diagram showing a mobilecommunication terminal as another embodiment of the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF REFERENCE SYMBOLS

1 user guidance system; 2, 11 mobile communication terminals; 3 basestation; 5 communication network; 101 communication history receiver(communication history receiving means); 102 traffic informationgenerator (traffic information generating means); 103 dissatisfactioncalculator (dissatisfaction calculating means); 104 recommended actionextractor (recommended action extracting means); 105 informationtransmitter (information transmitting means); 106 action specifier(action specifying means); 107 function resetter (function resettingmeans); 111 communication controller (communication controlling means);112 output unit (outputting means).

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

A preferred embodiment of the user guidance system according to thepresent invention will be described below in detail with reference tothe drawings. In the description of the drawings the same elements willbe denoted by the same reference symbols, without redundant description.

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram showing a preferredembodiment of the user guidance system according to the presentinvention. The user guidance system 1 shown in the same drawing is aserver system (or an aggregate of server systems) for sendinginformation about a recommended action during utilization ofcommunication to each of users of mobile communication terminals, and isconstructed so as to be able to transmit and receive information to andfrom a mobile communication terminal 2 via a communication network 5 anda plurality of base stations including a base station 3.

The user guidance system 1 comprises the following functionalcomponents: communication history receiver (communication historyreceiving means) 101, traffic information generator (traffic informationgenerating means) 102, dissatisfaction calculator (dissatisfactioncalculating means) 103, recommended action extractor (recommended actionextracting means) 104, information transmitter (information transmittingmeans) 105, action specifier (action specifying means) 106, functionresetter (function resetting means) 107, communication history storage108, dissatisfaction function storage 109, and recommended actionstorage 110. Each of the components will be described below in detail.

The communication history receiver 101 receives from the base station 3,communication history information being history information ofcommunication of a plurality of mobile communication terminals includingthe mobile communication terminal 2 in the communication network 5 andstores the communication history information into the communicationhistory storage 108. Here the base station 3 has a function of retaininghistories of communications of mobile communication terminals via thebase station 3. More specifically, when the plurality of mobilecommunication terminals transmit a connection request to thecommunication network 5, to the base station 3, the base station 3transmits the communication history information to the user guidancesystem 1. Upon disconnection between the plurality of mobilecommunication terminals and the communication network 5, thecommunication history information is also transmitted in an updatedstate from the base station 3 to the user guidance system 1. Thecommunication history receiver 101 also receives the communicationhistory information in the same manner from the other base stations thanthe base station 3 in the communication network 5.

FIG. 2 shows an example of a data configuration stored in thecommunication history storage 108. As shown in the same figure, thecommunication history storage 108 stores the following data inassociation with each other: user ID “0000001” to identify the mobilecommunication terminal 2; originating time “200501171402” being a timewhen the mobile communication terminal 2 transmitted a connectionrequest; originating-time state “OK” to indicate whether a connectionwas established at the originating time; originating-time place“area002” to indicate a place of the mobile communication terminal 2 atthe originating time; terminating time “200501171406” to indicate a timewhen the communication at the mobile communication terminal 2 wasterminated; terminating-time state “NG” to indicate whether theconnection was normally disconnected at the terminating time;terminating-time place “area001” to indicate a place of the mobilecommunication terminal 2 at the terminating time; communicating means“phone” to indicate a communicating means at the mobile communicationterminal 2; information content of recommended action “none” transmittedfrom the user guidance system 1 upon the connection request of themobile communication terminal 2. The “information content of recommendedaction transmitted from the user guidance system 1” contained in thecommunication history information may be stored in such a manner thatthe base station 3 monitors information transmitted and received betweenthe user guidance system 1 and mobile communication terminal 2 andretains it as the communication history information or in such a mannerthat the communication history receiver 101 monitors information of therecommended action transmitted from the information transmitter 105 andadds it into associated communication history information in thecommunication history storage 108.

The traffic information generator 102 receives from a plurality of basestations including the base station 3, resource state informationindicating a usage state of resources of the base station 3, such assystem resources and communication resources, on a regular or as-neededbasis. Examples of this resource state information include a usage rateof radio channels available for communications with mobile communicationterminals at the base station 3, a usage rate of a CPU (CentralProcessing Unit) at the base station 3, and so on. The trafficinformation generator 102 reads the communication history informationout of the communication history storage 108 and generates communicationtraffic information about the communication traffic at the base station3, with reference to the communication history information and theresource state information.

For example, the traffic information generator 102 is configured asfollows: it extracts from the communication history information everyinformation having the “originating time” within a predetermined timefrom the present time and the “originating-time place” within a coveragearea of the base station, and counts the “number of originating calls”at the base station 3; it tallies “originating-time states” in theextracted communication history information and obtains the “number ofblocked calls B_(P1)”; it tallies the presence/absence of “informationcontent of recommended action” in the extracted communication historyinformation and obtains the “number of transmissions of recommendedaction I_(P)”; it extracts from the communication history informationevery information having the “terminating time” within a predeterminedtime from the present time and the “terminating-time place” within acoverage of the base station, and tallies the “terminating-time states”in the communication history information to determine the “number ofoccurrences of forced termination D_(P1).”

Furthermore, the traffic information generator 102 also estimates“blocking probability B_(P2)” and “forced termination probabilityD_(P2)” at the present base station 3 from the resource information ofthe base station 3. More specifically, it calculates the “blockingprobability B_(P2)” and “forced termination probability D_(P2),” usingsuch parameters as the usage rate of radio channels and the usage rateof CPU at the base station 3, and the number of radio channels at thebase station 3. The traffic information generator 102 outputs to thedissatisfaction calculator 103 the communication traffic informationgenerated about the plurality of base stations and the communicationhistory information read out of the communication history storage 108.

The dissatisfaction calculator 103 calculates a dissatisfaction with anaction recommended to the user of the mobile communication terminal 2,based on the communication traffic information and communication historyinformation received from the traffic information generator 102. Therecommended action information indicating the action recommended to theuser of the mobile communication terminal 2 is transferred from therecommended action extractor 104 (the details of which will be describedlater), and the dissatisfaction calculated as to the recommended actioninformation is returned to the recommended action extractor 104.

Namely, the dissatisfaction calculator 103 references thedissatisfaction function storage 109 to specify a dissatisfactionfunction for calculation of dissatisfaction. The dissatisfactionfunction specified herein by the dissatisfaction calculator 103 is givenby Formula (1) below.a×B_(P2)+b×D_(P2)+c×I_(P)+d×M_(P)+e×W_(P)+f×C_(P)  (1)In Formula (1), B_(P2) represents the blocking probability, D_(P2) theforced termination probability, I_(P) the number of transmissions ofrecommended action, M_(P) a moving distance according to guidance, W_(P)a waiting time according to guidance, and C_(P) the number of changes ofcommunication means according to guidance. Where the dissatisfaction iscalculated from past communication histories, the number of blockedcalls B_(P1) and the number of occurrences of forced termination D_(P1)may be used instead of the blocking probability B_(P2) and the forcedtermination probability D_(P2) in Formula (1) above. In thisdissatisfaction function, the dissatisfaction of the user is expressedby the sum of values proportional to the numbers of occurrences,occurrence probabilities, and/or amounts of events, using parametersabout the events to cause user's dissatisfaction, such as call loss andforced termination. The dissatisfaction calculator 103 reads thecoefficients a-f in the above Formula (1) out of the dissatisfactionfunction storage 109, specifies a dissatisfaction function, based on thecoefficients, and thereafter calculates a dissatisfaction of the userwith a recommended action by use of the dissatisfaction function. FIG. 3shows an example of a configuration of data stored in thedissatisfaction function storage 109. As shown in the same figure, thedissatisfaction function storage 109 stores a user group “0001” to whichthe user of the mobile communication terminal 2 belongs, in associationwith the coefficients a-f, and the dissatisfaction calculator 103references the dissatisfaction function storage 109, using the usergroup “0001” as a search key, to retrieve the coefficient a “100,”coefficient b “100,” coefficient c “10,” coefficient d “1,” coefficiente “1,” and coefficient f “10.”

Then the dissatisfaction calculator 103 calculates the dissatisfactionwith the recommended action information by putting the blockingprobability B_(P2) and the forced termination probability D_(P2)contained in the traffic information, and the parameters I_(P), M_(P),W_(P), and C_(P) derived from the communication history information andthe recommended action information, into the above Formula (1).

Specifically, where the recommended action information is “movement toaround X,” the dissatisfaction calculator 103 calculates thedissatisfaction, using the blocking probability B_(P2) and the forcedtermination probability D_(P2) of a base station corresponding to adestination located area, the “moving distance M_(P) according toguidance” and the “waiting time W_(P) according to guidance” calculatedfrom the “originating-time place” in the latest communication history orthe latest originating-time place of mobile communication terminal 2acquired from the base station 3 and from the recommended action, andthe “number of transmissions of recommended action I_(P)” specified fromthe presence/absence of “information content of recommended action” inthe communication histories. For example, in a case where therecommended action is “movement to around station Δ,” thedissatisfaction calculator 103 determines the “moving distance M_(P)according to guidance” from a distance between the originating-timeplace “area002” in the latest communication history (cf. FIG. 2) and theregion “around station Δ,” and determines the “waiting time W_(P)according to guidance” from a moving time corresponding to the distance.Where the recommended action information is “waiting for time X,” thewaiting time corresponding to the recommended action is used as the“waiting time W_(P) according to the guidance.” Where the recommendedaction is “change of communication means to X,” the calculator uses the“number of changes of communication means C_(P) according to theguidance” corresponding to the recommended action.

The recommended action extractor 104 reads a plurality of candidates forrecommended action information out of the recommended action storage 110and extracts the recommended action information for the user of themobile communication terminal 2 to be notified of, out of the candidatesfor the recommended action information, based on dissatisfactionscalculated for the candidates for the recommended action information.Specifically, the recommended action extractor 104 reads a plurality ofcandidates for recommended action information out of the recommendedaction storage 110, outputs each of the candidates for the recommendedaction information to the dissatisfaction calculator 103, and receivesdissatisfactions calculated for the candidates by the dissatisfactioncalculator 103. FIG. 4 shows an example of a configuration of datastored in the recommended action storage 110. In the recommended actionstorage. 110, as shown in the same figure, the recommended actioninformation “movement to around X” is in correspondence to candidatesfor parameter X “station ◯; station Δ; tower □; . . . ” in therecommended action information. The recommended action extractor 104reads all the recommended action information items and parameters X outof the recommended action storage 110, outputs the recommended actioninformation replaced with each parameter X (e.g., “movement to aroundstation ◯”) to the dissatisfaction calculator 103, and receives adissatisfaction calculated about each recommended action informationfrom the dissatisfaction calculator 103. Then the recommended actionextractor 104 extracts from the candidates for the recommended actioninformation, one with a dissatisfaction not more than a predeterminedthreshold, a predetermined number of recommended actions selected inorder from the smallest dissatisfaction, or the recommended actioninformation with the minimum dissatisfaction, and outputs the selectedinformation to the information transmitter 105.

When the recommended action extractor 104 selects the candidates for therecommended action information from the recommended action storage 110,it may preliminarily select candidates with small estimateddissatisfactions out of all the recommended action information itemsstored in the recommended action storage 110. This selection can beconducted according to one of the following determination methods: theextractor selects parameters within a predetermined range from thelocation of the user among the parameters X corresponding to therecommended action information “movement to around X,” based on the“originating-time place” or “terminating-time place” included in thecommunication history of the mobile communication terminal 2 (cf. FIG.2); the extractor estimates from the communication history, times whenthe radio channel usage rate of the base station where the user islocated is low, and selects parameters X corresponding to therecommended action information “waiting for time X”; the extractorselects the recommended action information “change of communicationmeans to X,” based on the “communication means” included in thecommunication history, radio channel usage rates of surrounding basestations, and the communication traffic information B_(P2), D_(P2).

The information transmitter 105 transmits the recommended actioninformation extracted by the recommended action extractor 104, to themobile communication terminal 2. The information transmitter 105 outputsthe recommended action information transmitted to the mobilecommunication terminal 2, to the action specifier 106.

The action specifier 106 specifies an action of the user of the mobilecommunication terminal 2 after the transmission of the recommendedaction by the information transmitter 105. More specifically, after therecommended action information is outputted from the informationtransmitter 105, the action specifier 106 references the communicationhistory about the mobile communication terminal 2 stored in thecommunication history storage 108 to specify the action of the user tothe guidance of the user guidance system 1. For example, it specifies adestination of movement, waiting time, and communication means of theuser from the latest communication history information containing theuser ID “0000001.” The action specifier 106 outputs the informationabout the action of the user specified, to the function resetter 107.

The function resetter 107 determines whether the information about theaction of the user of the mobile communication terminal 2 received fromthe action specifier 106 agrees with the recommended action informationtransmitted to the mobile communication terminal 2. For example, thefunction resetter 107 determines whether the destination orcommunication means of the user being the information about the actionof the user is equivalent to the parameter X in the recommended actioninformation “movement to around X” or “change of communication means toX,” or whether a difference between the waiting time of the user beingthe information about the action of the user and the parameter X in therecommended action information “waiting for time X” is within anallowable range. When the result of the determination is that the actionof the user does not agree with the recommended action, the functionresetter 107 resets the coefficients a-f stored in the dissatisfactionfunction storage 109. Specifically, in a case where the recommendedaction information is “movement to around X” and where the action of theuser does not agree with the recommended action, the dissatisfaction ofthe user with the movement is considered to be significant, and thus thefunction resetter 107 increases the coefficient d corresponding to thedistance M_(P) of movement according to the guidance. In another casewhere the recommended action information is “waiting for time X” andwhere the waiting time of the user is shorter than the “time X,” thedissatisfaction of the user with the waiting is considered to besignificant, and the function resetter 107 increases the coefficient ecorresponding to the time W_(p) for waiting according to the guidance.In another case where the recommended action information is “waiting fortime X” and where the waiting time of the user is longer than the “timeX,” the dissatisfaction of the user with the waiting is considered to benot so significant, and the function resetter 107 decreases thecoefficient e corresponding to the time W_(P) for waiting according tothe guidance. Furthermore, in a case where the recommended actioninformation is “change of communication means to X,” the dissatisfactionof the user with the change of communication means is considered to besignificant, and the function resetter 107 increases the coefficient fcorresponding to the number of changes of communication means C_(P)according to the guidance.

The operation of the user guidance system 1 will be described below withreference to FIG. 5, while detailing a user guidance method in the userguidance system 1.

First, the mobile communication terminal 2 transmits a connectionrequest for connection to the communication network 5, to a base station3 (step S01). Next, the base station 3 generates the communicationhistory information corresponding to the connection request andtransmits the generated communication history information to the userguidance system 1 (step S02). In response thereto, the communicationhistory receiver 101 of the user guidance system 1 stores thecommunication history information received from the base station 3, intothe communication history storage 108 (step S03). At the same time asit, the traffic information generator 102 receives from the base station3 the resource state information indicating a usage state of resourcesat the base station 3 (step S04).

After that, the user guidance system 1 determines whether the resourceusage rate of the base station 3 where the mobile communication terminal2 is located, exceeds a threshold. When the resource usage rate exceedsthe threshold, the processing is transferred to step S06. When theresource usage rate does not exceed the threshold, the transmissionprocessing of recommended action to the mobile communication terminal 2is suspended (the operation heretofore is step S05). Next, the trafficinformation generator 102 generates the communication trafficinformation about the base station 3 by making use of the communicationhistory information and the resource state information (step S06).Furthermore, the recommended action extractor 104 references therecommended action storage 110 to select a plurality of candidates forrecommended action information (step S07). Then the dissatisfactioncalculator 103 reads the coefficients a-f out of the dissatisfactionfunction storage 109 to specify the dissatisfaction function (step S08).Thereafter, the dissatisfaction calculator 103 makes use of thedissatisfaction function to calculate a dissatisfaction of the user ofthe mobile communication terminal 2 about each of the candidates for therecommended action information (step S09). The recommended actionextractor 104 extracts a recommended action to be transmitted to themobile communication terminal 2, out of the candidates for therecommended action information, based on the dissatisfactions calculatedas described above (step S10). Then the information transmitter 105transmits the extracted recommended action to the mobile communicationterminal 2 (step S11).

Thereafter, at the timing of transmission of another connection requestfrom the mobile communication terminal 2, at the timing of terminationof communication, or at the timing of transmission of the recommendedaction, the base station 3 updates the communication history informationand transmits it to the user guidance system 1 (step S12). The actionspecifier 106 specifies an action of the user of the mobilecommunication terminal immediately after the information transmitter 105has transmitted the recommended action information to the mobilecommunication terminal 2 (step S13). In response thereto, the functionresetter 107 updates the coefficients a-f stored in the dissatisfactionfunction storage 109 if the information about the action of the user ofthe mobile communication terminal 2 specified by the action specifier106 does not agree with the recommended action information transmittedto the mobile communication terminal 2 (step S14).

The user guidance system 1 described above is configured to receive thecommunication history of the mobile communication terminal 2 and theusage states of resources of a plurality of base stations including thebase station 3, to generate the information about the communicationtraffic at the base stations from these information pieces, and tocalculate dissatisfactions with respective actions recommended to theuser, based on the communication history, the usage states of resourcesof the base stations, and the communication traffics of the basestations. Since the recommended action suitable for the user isextracted out of the plurality of actions on the basis of the calculateddissatisfactions and the user is notified of it, the recommended actionsuitable for the user can be selected out of the plurality ofcandidates, in consideration of the traffic states at the respectivebase stations and the communication state at the user. This permits thesystem to guide the user requesting a connection during congestion ofcommunication, to an appropriate action and to suppress an unnecessaryconnection request in conjunction with dissatisfaction of the user. As aresult, it is feasible to realize efficient utilization of communicationresources. Since the dissatisfaction function is reset based on theactual action of the user to the guidance, the system is able to presenta recommended action matching an actual communication mode of eachindividual user.

The present invention is by no means limited to each of the aboveembodiments. For example, the mobile communication terminal may beequipped with the functions implemented in the user guidance system 1.FIG. 6 is a schematic configuration diagram showing a mobilecommunication terminal 11 as another embodiment of the presentinvention. As shown in the same figure, the mobile communicationterminal 11 comprises the following functional components: communicationhistory receiver 101, traffic information generator 102, dissatisfactioncalculator 103, recommended action extractor 104, action specifier 106,function resetter 107, communication history storage 108,dissatisfaction function storage 109, and recommended action storage110; and communication controller 111 and output unit 112. Only thecomponents different from those in the user guidance system 1 will bedescribed below.

The output unit 112 outputs the recommended action information extractedby the recommended action extractor 104, to an information outputtingmeans (not shown) such as a display or microphone in the mobilecommunication terminal 11.

The communication controller 111 controls the communication function inthe mobile communication terminal 11 so as to limit the connection fromthe mobile communication terminal 11 to the communication network 5,according to the recommended action information extracted by therecommended action extractor 104. Specifically, where the recommendedaction information is “movement to around X,” the communicationcontroller 111 restricts the connection request function in the mobilecommunication terminal 11 during a period before the location of themobile communication terminal 11 read from the communication historyinformation about the mobile communication terminal 11 agrees with theparameter X. Where the recommended action information is “waiting fortime X,” the communication controller 111 restricts the connectionrequest function in the mobile communication terminal 11 for the timecorresponding to the parameter X. Furthermore, where the recommendedaction information is “change of communication means to X,” thecommunication controller 111 restricts the connection request functionby the communication means other than the communication meanscorresponding to the parameter X. This enables communication controlsuitable for the recommended action on the mobile communication terminalside and promotes more effective utilization of communication resources.

The mobile communication terminal 11 may be configured to acquire theinformation necessary for the calculation of dissatisfaction, i.e., thecommunication history information, dissatisfaction function andcoefficients thereof, and candidates for recommended action informationfrom the communication network 5 side, instead of preliminarilyretaining them in the data storage means such as memories, and may beconfigured to acquire an algorithm for generating the trafficinformation about the base station from the communication network 5side. The terminal may also operate to generate the communicationhistory information within the mobile communication terminal 11.

Preferably, the dissatisfaction calculating means calculates thedissatisfaction, using a function preliminarily set based on thecommunication history information and communication traffic information,and the terminal further comprises action specifying means forspecifying an action of the user after the transmission of therecommended action to the mobile communication terminal by theinformation transmitting means, based on the communication historyinformation; and function resetting means for resetting the function ifthe action specified by the action specifying means is different fromthe recommended action. This configuration permits the terminal to graspthe actual action of the user to the recommended action presented to theuser, and calculate the dissatisfaction, based thereon, and thereby topresent a better recommended action to the user.

The aforementioned mobile communication terminal preferably furthercomprises communication controlling means for restricting the connectionto the communication network, according to the recommended actionextracted by the recommended action extracting means. In this case, thecommunication control suitable for the recommended action is performedon the terminal side, whereby it is feasible to promote more effectiveutilization of communication resources.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY

The present invention is applicable to usage of the user guidancesystem, mobile communication terminal, and user guidance method forguiding the user's action during utilization of communication, so as toguide the user to an appropriate action during utilization ofcommunication.

1. A user guidance system comprising: communication history receivingmeans for receiving communication history information which is historyinformation of communication of a mobile communication terminal in acommunication network; traffic information generating means forreceiving from a base station in the communication network, resourcestate information indicating a usage state of resources of the basestation and for generating communication traffic information about acommunication traffic at the base station, using the resource stateinformation and the communication history information; dissatisfactioncalculating means for calculating a dissatisfaction with a recommendedaction being an action recommended to a user of the mobile communicationterminal, based on the communication history information received by thecommunication history receiving means and the communication trafficinformation generated by the traffic information generating means;recommended action extracting means for, based on dissatisfactions witha plurality of recommended actions calculated by the dissatisfactioncalculating means, extracting a recommended action for the user to benotified of, out of the plurality of recommended actions; andinformation transmitting means for transmitting the recommended actionextracted by the recommended action extracting means, to the mobilecommunication terminal.
 2. The user guidance system according to claim1, wherein the dissatisfaction calculating means calculates thedissatisfaction, using a function preliminarily set based on thecommunication history information and communication traffic information,the user guidance system further comprising: action specifying means forspecifying an action of the user after the transmission of therecommended action to the mobile communication terminal by theinformation transmitting means, based on the communication historyinformation; and function resetting means for resetting the function ifthe action specified by the action specifying means is different fromthe recommended action.
 3. A mobile communication terminal comprising:communication history receiving means for receiving communicationhistory information being history information of communication in acommunication network; traffic information generating means forreceiving from a base station in the communication network, resourcestate information indicating a usage state of resources of the basestation and for generating communication traffic information about acommunication traffic at the base station, using the resource stateinformation and the communication history information; dissatisfactioncalculating means for calculating a dissatisfaction with a recommendedaction being an action recommended to a user, based on the communicationhistory information received by the communication history receivingmeans and the communication traffic information generated by the trafficinformation generating means; recommended action extracting means for,based on dissatisfactions with a plurality of recommended actionscalculated by the dissatisfaction calculating means, extracting arecommended action for the user to be notified of, out of the pluralityof recommended actions; and outputting means for outputting therecommended action extracted by the recommended action extracting means.4. The mobile communication terminal according to claim 3, wherein thedissatisfaction calculating means calculates the dissatisfaction, usinga function preliminarily set based on the communication historyinformation and communication traffic information, the mobilecommunication terminal further comprising: action specifying means forspecifying an action of the user after the transmission of therecommended action to the mobile communication terminal by theinformation transmitting means, based on the communication historyinformation; and function resetting means for resetting the function ifthe action specified by the action specifying means is different fromthe recommended action.
 5. The mobile communication terminal accordingto claim 3, further comprising communication controlling means forrestricting connection to the communication network, according to therecommended action extracted by the recommended action extracting means.6. A user guidance method comprising: a communication history receivingstep wherein communication history receiving means receivescommunication history information being history information ofcommunication in a communication network; a traffic informationgenerating step wherein traffic information generating means receivesfrom a base station in the communication network, resource stateinformation indicating a usage state of resources of the base stationand generates communication traffic information about a communicationtraffic at the base station, using the resource state information andthe communication history information; a dissatisfaction calculatingstep wherein dissatisfaction calculating means calculates adissatisfaction with a recommended action being an action recommended toa user, based on the communication history information received by thecommunication history receiving means and the communication trafficinformation generated by the traffic information generating means; and arecommended action extracting step wherein, based on dissatisfactionswith a plurality of recommended actions calculated by thedissatisfaction calculating means, recommended action extracting meansextracts a recommended action for the user to be notified of, out of theplurality of recommended actions.
 7. The mobile communication terminalaccording to claim 4, further comprising communication controlling meansfor restricting connection to the communication network, according tothe recommended action extracted by the recommended action extractingmeans.
 8. The user guidance system according to claim 1, wherein thetraffic generating means generates the communication traffic informationabout the communication traffic at the base station using informationcorresponding to a number of calls originated at the base station. 9.The mobile communication terminal according to claim 3, wherein thereceived resource state information includes information indicating anumber of calls originated at the base station, and the trafficgenerating means generates the communication traffic information aboutthe communication traffic at the base station using the informationindicating the number of calls originated at the base station.
 10. Theuser guidance method according to claim 6, wherein the trafficinformation generating step generates the communication trafficinformation about the communication traffic at the base station usinginformation corresponding to a number of calls originated at the basestation.
 11. The user guidance system according to claim 1, wherein thetraffic generating means generates the communication traffic informationabout the communication traffic at the base station using informationcorresponding to a number of calls blocked at the base station.
 12. Themobile communication terminal according to claim 3, wherein the receivedresource state information includes information indicating a number ofcalls blocked at the base station, and the traffic generating meansgenerates the communication traffic information about the communicationtraffic at the base station using the number of calls blocked at thebase station.
 13. The user guidance method according to claim 6, whereinthe traffic information generating step generates the communicationtraffic information about the communication traffic at the base stationusing information corresponding to a number of calls blocked at the basestation.
 14. The user guidance system according to claim 1, wherein thetraffic generating means generates the communication traffic informationabout the communication traffic at the base station using informationcorresponding to a number of occurrences of forced call termination atthe base station.
 15. The mobile communication terminal according toclaim 3, wherein the received resource state information includesinformation indicating a number of occurrences of forced calltermination at the base station, and the traffic generating meansgenerates the communication traffic information about the communicationtraffic at the base station using the number of occurrences of forcedcall termination at the base station.
 16. The user guidance methodaccording to claim 6, wherein the traffic information generating stepgenerates the communication traffic information about the communicationtraffic at the base station using information corresponding to a numberof occurrences of forced call termination at the base station.
 17. Theuser guidance system according to claim 1, wherein the dissatisfactioncalculating means calculates the dissatisfaction with the recommendedaction based on a waiting time corresponding to the recommended actionand a moving distance in corresponding to the recommended action. 18.The mobile communication terminal according to claim 3, wherein thedissatisfaction calculating means calculates the dissatisfaction withthe recommended action based on a waiting time corresponding to therecommended action and a moving distance corresponding to therecommended action.
 19. The user guidance method according to claim 6,wherein the dissatisfaction calculating step includes calculating thedissatisfaction with the recommended action based on a waiting timecorresponding to the recommended action and a moving distancecorresponding to the recommended action.